Mighty Macs fall on disputed balk

Staff photos by Tom Kelly IV
Keystone's Kevin Catherina (22) makes a running catch in the outfield, as players look through the net from the bullpen, during the Immaculata University vs Keystone College men's college baseball game at Immaculata on Wednesday, April 24, 2013.

EAST WHITELAND – Dropping a one-run ballgame is difficult enough to handle, and the Immaculata baseball squad did it on Wednesday for the fifth time this season against a Colonial States Athletic Conference foe. But the 5-4 setback to first-place Keystone had to be the toughest of them all, not because it happened this late in the regular season, but the way that it happened.

Engaged in a deadlocked battle against the nation’s 14th-ranked Division III team through seven-plus innings, the Mighty Macs absorbed what wound up being the game-winning run on a controversial eighth-inning balk.

“That’s baseball,” said freshman infielder Rob Warren. “The ump sees something that maybe we don’t, but we have to roll with it and keep on fighting.”

Immaculata did that, but still fell to 4-11 in the CSAC (13-17 overall) and now faces elimination from the conference playoffs. The Macs need to win their final three CSAC games and hope that Centenary (6-9) loses its final three.

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“We put our backs against the wall,” said first-year head coach Bryan Torresani. “We have to win and hope the baseball gods are good to us the rest of the way.

“When you lose as many one-run games as we have, it’s tough to make the playoffs. But we will fight this weekend and see what happens.”

Immaculata is the only team in the CSAC to beat Keystone (17-1, 29-7) this season – in game one of a road doubleheader on April 1 -- and came close to doing it again. Torresani got solid pitching from starter Aaron Dietrich and two relievers, and his hitters also tagged the Giants’ hard-throwing ace, Rob Rogers, for seven hits and four runs. He left the game after six innings and did not figure in the decision.

“To come out, face their ace, and to put some runs on the board and really give them a fight was encouraging, but somebody has to lose,” said Wallace, who led the way with three hits and an RBI. “We played out butts off.

“We know that every time we step on the field with (Keystone), we have to up our game a bit, and we did that.”

Despite having leads of three and two runs in the first and sixth innings, respectively, Rogers – and his 0.94 earned run average -- was unable to prevent IU from fighting back to tie it each time. Deadlocked at 4-4 in the eighth, the Giants put a runner on third base with two out, and then scored the game-winner on a bitterly disputed decision by the umpire. Immaculata reliever Bryan McHale was called for a balk that scored the runner, and prompted Torresani to bolt from the dugout in protest.

“I thought it was the wrong call,” Torresani explained. “(McHale) does the same thing every time with runners on base. I really didn’t get an explanation, but it’s just one of those things. I told my guys after the game that it stinks, it came at a bad time for us, but we can’t put ourselves in a situation where it comes down to one umpire’s call.

“Having said that, I am so proud of my guys,” he continued. “We battled. Like most coaches, I’m not big on moral victories, but we played pretty good baseball for nine innings.”

Already down by three runs heading into the bottom half of the first inning, the Mighty Macs started impressively at the plate with four hits and two runs off Rogers. Matt Lawson led off with a double and Joe DiGiamo and Wallace had infield hits that drove in a run apiece.

Following a slightly shaky start, Dietrich settled down and went four more solid innings, allowing just one more run (on no hits) in the fifth before giving way to relievers Nicholas Campione and, finally, McHale. Immaculata tied it with two runs in the sixth when the pressure seemed to get to Rogers and he hit a batter and issued a walk with the bases loaded.

“(Rogers) is an excellent pitcher but we swung the bats pretty well against him,” Torresani said. “We would have liked to score more than four, but it gave us a chance.

“We gave them a couple runs in the first inning. If we don’t do that, we win the game.”

Immaculata will face Cairn three more times to end the regular season, starting with a single home game on Friday, followed by a road twinbill on Saturday. Cairn is currently 1-14 in the CSAC.